"Generally, to determine if an action is statute barred it is the originating process that the court should look at to find out the date of the wrong that caused the suit occurred and the date the suit was filed. But where the objection that a suit is statute barred is considered and determined after the conclusion of evidence by both sides, all the processes and evidence before the court must be considered, especially where the objection is determined as part of or along with the final judgement on the merit of the dispute in the case. This approach pursues the substantial justice of the matter and reduces the incidence of unscrupulous litigants, who, knowing very well that their claim is already statute barred, coin or phrase their case in such a manner as to hide or misrepresent the fact that it is already statute barred to exploit the principle that only the originating process should be considered in determining the issue of when the cause of action accrued and abuse the process of the court by a sending it on a futile trial of a stale cause that it lacks jurisdiction to try. In this case, the preliminary objection was determined along with the question in the originating summons. The trial court was thus obliged to look at all the processes brought before it for considering. Therefore, the court of appeal rightly relied on all evidence on record before the court in determining when the cause of action accrued and whether the suit was statute barred."

Karshi v Gwagwa (2022) LPELR-57544(SC)